Crush Liberalism

Liberalism: Why think when you can “feel”?

"Non-political" meets "headline"

Headline: “Women drawn to men with muscles”. What ever would we do without “experts”?

July 10, 2007 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Strategy to Dems: Appeal to emotions, not facts or reason

I know we discussed this before, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere in my posts. Anywho, from Neal Boortz:

I really think that this is one of the big stories of the day. Maybe because it is something I’ve been saying for years … about liberals, that is.

It looks like we have a high-powered brain scientist serving as the latest advisor to the Democratic party. Drew Westen conducted research which leads to his conclusion that politicians – liberal politicians — should try and appeal to people’s emotions, rather than bogging them down with data and facts.

Where did we first find out about this research? Why, at the ultra-left wing “Take Back America” convention, that’s where. The study was presented by researcher, Drew Westen, a psychologist and brain researcher at Emory University in my hometown of Atlanta.

Here’s the ironic part of his study. It sounds to me like Dr. Westen is basically telling democrats that their constituents are stupid. He is telling democrats to appeal to constituents’ emotions because “it doesn’t make sense to argue an issue using facts and figures … or to count on voters to make choices based on sophisticated understandings of policy differences or procedures.” And there you have it. Avoid the facts, just go right for the heart!

Dr. Westen is suggesting that manipulating a voter’s emotions is better than boring them to tears with sophisticated understandings. “Sophisticated understandings? What’s that? Sounds to me like just a phrase denoting basic worldly knowledge, or being an educated citizen. Mr. Westen says, “[The brain] prefers conclusions that are emotionally satisfying rather than conclusions that match the data.”

Message to Democrats. Don’t bore your constituents with facts. Just tell them whatever makes them comfortable, warm, happy and all fuzzy.

Hmmmmm …. Not boring constituents with facts. Does that sound at all like the global warming cultists? But, I digress ……

So what’s a good politician to do? How about just scrapping all of the data and research on global warming, socialized healthcare, voting rights, government education … what’s the point? If I want to be a good liberal, I should just get up here and appeal to your emotions. Forget trying to actually understand an issue … that would just be too complicated.

You know why this works for democrats, don’t you? Because if their voters actually did the research into any liberal platform issues, they would realize that the Democrats are wrong. I’ve been telling you for years that liberals (that means Democrats) like to argue from the position of emotion and feelings rather than fact and logic. You’ll find it in my book “The Terrible Truth About Liberals,” and that’s more than 10 years old! So let’s all just sit back and listen while the “progressives” offer us their preachy little sound bites that play on your emotions and not your intellect.

The sad reality here is that Dr. Westen probably has this thing figured out pretty well.

I have always said that liberalism is a “feeling, not thinking” ideology, and now we have a psychologist confirming this.

Click to enlarge (picture, not brain…the liberal brain cannot be enlarged)

July 10, 2007 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Bad news for teachers unions

That means good news for parents of school-aged children. The Supreme Court recognizes the right to homeschool your child. From the Washington Times:

It is no secret that home-schooling is growing and gaining credibility as a viable educational alternative.

More and more colleges are actively recruiting home-schooled students, each year there are an estimated 50,000-plus home-school high school graduates who find work or go to college and thousands of new curriculum products have become available over the past five years. Meanwhile, the number of home-schoolers continues to grow by 7 percent to 15 percent each year, more states are reforming their laws to remove the burdens from parents who want to home educate, and home-schoolers continue to excel in national competitions as well as on standardized tests. In short, home-schooling is a major success story.

Now, for the first time, home-schooling has been recognized in an opinion by a U.S. Supreme Court justice as a viable educational alternative. Morse v. Frederick, which recently made national headlines, involves free speech and whether a public school can regulate what a student says. The 5-4 decision said that the school principal, Deborah Morse, did not violate the free speech rights of Joseph Frederick when she took down his pro-marijuana banner, which said “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” The student had violated school policy and was advocating illegal drug use.

While the Home School Legal Defense Association agrees with the ruling in this specific case, it is a reminder to all families that when your child enters the public school, you have virtually ceded your parental rights to the public school.

The clearest explanation of this view was expressed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Fields v. Palmdale, when it said, “While parents may have a fundamental right to decide whether to send their child to a public school, they do not have a fundamental right generally to direct how a public school teaches their child.”

This is the reason many parents have chosen to home-school, especially those parents who have a religious worldview, because they know their children will be taught secular values by the public system.

In Morse v. Frederick, however, Justice Clarence Thomas said, “If parents do not like the rules imposed by those schools, they can seek redress in school boards or legislatures; they can send their children to private schools or home school them; or they can simply move.”

This is the first time the Supreme Court specifically has recognized home-schooling as a viable educational alternative. HSLDA has worked for 24 years to advance a parent’s right to home-school and to promote home-schooling to the general public.

After 24 years, it is gratifying to read the words of a Supreme Court justice who rightfully placed home-schooling on a level playing field with public and private schools. This kind of recognition is tremendously significant to the home-school community.

It’s another step on the long road to raise home-schooling to the point where, when the terms public, private or home-school are used in the same sentence, they all will be seen as mainstream educational alternatives.

Home-schooling is a modern education success story and HSLDA urges all parents to carefully consider their educational options. Home-schooling should be front and center because it is a viable alternative that has helped hundreds of thousands of children become mature, productive citizens.

If you don’t like how your local government school is educating Little Johnny, you can either move to a different school district, enroll him in a private school, or home school. That’s it. Efforts have existed for years by the NEA (leftist teachers union) to eliminate homeschooling, since homeschooling makes their job of indoctrinating and dumbing down your kid considerably tougher.

No, I am not bashing all or even most public school teachers. I am blessed to know far more decent, competent, and dedicated teachers than those who are not. I also recognize that some parents are about as sharp as a velvet bag full of styrofoam peanuts and probably aren’t serving their children well by educating them directly. However, I reflexively defer to parents in determining the best interests of their kids until it can be demonstrated that the contrary is occurring.

Maybe homeschooling is for your kids. Maybe it’s not. The good news is that it’s your choice.

July 10, 2007 Posted by | public education, Supreme Court, unions | Leave a Comment

"Texas State Lawmaker Opposing Deadly Force Bill Shoots Would-Be Thief"

I’m wondering if this guy is so anti-Second Amendment now. Knowing the “good enough for me, but not for thee” attitude of liberal lawmakers, I suspect his views are unchanged. From FNC:

A state lawmaker who opposed a bill giving Texans stronger right to defend themselves with deadly force pulled a gun and shot a man he says was trying to steal copper wiring from a construction site, police said Monday.

Rep. Borris Miles told police he was fixing a leak on the second floor of the Houston house he’s building Sunday night when he heard a noise downstairs and saw two men trying to steal the copper. After Miles confronted the pair, one of the men threw a pocketknife at him, Houston Police spokesman Victor Senties.

Miles, a former law enforcement officer, shot the man in the left leg, police said. The wounded suspect was being treated at a Houston hospital. Police were trying to identify the other suspect.

Charges of aggravated robbery are pending against the wounded suspect, Senties said.

Police said Miles, who is in his freshman term, is licensed to carry a concealed weapon. No charges have been filed against Miles, Senties said.

Miles, a Democrat, voted against a bill that gives Texans stronger legal right to defend themselves with deadly force in their homes, vehicles, and workplaces. The so-called “castle doctrine,” passed by the Legislature this year, states that a person has no duty to retreat from an intruder before using deadly force. The law goes into effect Sept. 1.

Isn’t it beyond stupid that our politicians feel compelled to “allow” us to take on an intruder in our home? Sorry, but I don’t need some detached-from-reality legislator’s permission to defend myself, my family, or my possessions from thugs!

July 10, 2007 Posted by | gun rights, hypocrisy, Texas | 1 Comment

RFK, Jr.: Politicians who don’t buy global "warming" nonsense are "traitors"

RFK, Jr., presumably sober (though that’s no guarantee) when he uttered this, adds “traitor” to Ellen Goodman’s “Holocaust deniers” lexicon of labels for people who don’t buy the junk science known as manmade global “warming”. From Newsday:

However, Etheridge aside, it was nonmusicians at this concert who made the most passionate pleas about demanding action for the environment. “Get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington, who are nothing more than corporate toadies,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmentalist author, president of Waterkeeper Alliance and Robert F. Kennedy’s son, who grew hoarse from shouting. “This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors.”

There you have it, folks. Going overseas and poormouthing our leaders and our troops doesn’t count as “treason”. Attempting to undermine the troops’ morale and mission while giving the Al Jazeera Terrorvision Network sound bites to use in their propaganda isn’t “treason”. But have any doubts that global “warming” is real or that it is manmade, and you’re right up there with Benedict Arnold, pal!

Dipsh#t.

Fortunately, we have teachers trying to keep our kids off of the path to “treason”!

July 10, 2007 Posted by | global warming, moonbats | Leave a Comment

D.C. politician robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin. Just how effective is D.C.’s total gun ban (which, by the way, was recently ruled unconstitutional by a federal court)? It’s so effective that their deputy mayor for education was held up by two armed (i.e. with guns) robbers. Details here.

The NRA rubs salt in the wound by accurately observing the following:

Just how worthless is Washington, D.C.’s gun ban? It’s so bad in our nation’s capitol that a deputy mayor was recently robbed at gunpoint.

Victor Reinoso is lucky to be alive today, but do you think he’ll be speaking out about the pointlessness of D.C.’s gun ban? Not if he wants to keep his job, he won’t.

Criminals don’t care about gun laws … anymore than they care about D.C.’s complete gun ban.

Ultimately, Victor Reinoso’s robbery probably won’t mean much when it comes to public policy in Washington, D.C. After all, they’ve already stuck with the ban for 30 years- what’s one more innocent victim?

Ouch.

July 10, 2007 Posted by | D.C., gun rights | Leave a Comment

   

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